The present invention relates generally to ornamental lights network used for decorative purpose and is particularly related to Christmas tree lights assembly made of a web or network structure comprising a plurality of electrically interconnected light elements. The net structure or lights assembly of the present invention is pre-fabricated and can be draped as a single net over a Christmas tree or building structures.
A variety of Christmas lights network and decorative lighting assemblies are available for illuminating and decorating Christmas trees. Conventional illumination of a Christmas tree involves the use of a plurality of separate elongated, insulative, electrically conductive wire strings on which are mounted several lighting elements (lamps) which are spaced apart from each other. Each of these light elements comprises a female socket member which is adapted to receive a screw-in or bayonet-type lamp, strung in series or in parallel. The strings are attached at one or both ends to an electrical plug which provides the source of electricity. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,976 issued to Sheila DuMong on Oct. 15, 1991. As mentioned in said patent, however, the mounting of such plurality of separate strings of lights on a Christmas tree is both is burdensome and time-consuming task. In order to simplify decoration of a Christmas tree by illumination said patent provides a tree lighting assembly that incorporates a multiplicity of lamps in a net-like structure that can be readily mounted on a Christmas tree, and is easy to remove when not in use.
Other Christmas tree decorative illumination assemblies are described in the prior art patents disclosed in the DuMong patent. These are Crucefix U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,547 and Forrer U.S. Pat. No. 3,096,943. The DuMong patent also discloses two other patents, i.e., Ahoroni U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,720,773 and 4,736,282 which describe a mounting collar for use with conventional strings of Christmas lights.
In a more recent patent, i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,519 issued to David J. Dorfman on May 25, 1993, the patentee describes an electrical receptacle assembly which in one embodiment forms a flexible net. The receptacles receive light bulbs therein which, when illuminated, form a blanket of lights that can be draped over and around a Christmas tree. Other decorative light assemblies for Christmas trees are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,720,773; 5,338,585; and 5,424,925.
Decorative light assemblies have also been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,645,342 and 5,984,491 issued Jul. 8, 1997 and Nov. 16, 1999, respectively, to Chin Chen Chang, the inventor named in this application. Basically the lighting networks described in these Chang patents as well as in most prior art patents comprise an array of subnets each comprising four lights which are connected to each other by electrical conductive wires. Thus, large quantities of wires will normally be needed to provide adequate illumination for a Christmas tree or other structure. The use of large quantity of wire for each network of lights increases the product cost hence forcing manufacturers to use less lights to become economically competitive. Thus, there is a dire need for light nets or lighting assemblies which utilize relatively less quantities of electrical wires, i.e., lower ratio of wire length to the number of light bulbs per network. One recent patent, i.e., U.S. Pat. No. 6,152,576 issued to Todd J. Mount on Nov. 28, 2000 discloses a method for providing a decorative array of spaced apart multiple light bulbs mounted on spaced apart rows of two intertwined insulated electrical wires connected to each light bulb. Even the lighting assembly described in this patent is limited to at most six light bulbs per subnet and does not sufficiently reduce the ratio of wire quantity to light bulbs to a favorable economic level.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved decorative lighting assembly.
It is another object of the present invention to provide decorative lighting assembly or network which utilizes minimal quantity of electrical wires per number of light bulbs while still providing adequate and sufficient lighting for the product.
It is also a further object of this invention to provide a decorative lighting assembly which permits the use of increased number of light bulbs per subnet of the network in order to provide more lighting with less quantity of wires.
The foregoing and other objects and features of the present invention will be more clearly comprehended from the ensuing detailed description and the accompanying drawings.
The present invention provide a decorative lighting network which is capable of providing greater degree of illumination (brightness) per foot or square foot of wire used to form the lighting network. Consequently less wire is needed to provide at lest the same degree of illumination as in the prior art lighting networks.
The lighting network described herein comprises a row of intertwined wires in the form of a rope, comprising an electrically conductive insulated wire and a non-conductive wire. One or more light strings, preferably a plurality of light strings depend from the row of intertwined wires and are formed in a pattern of repeating generally diamond shape subnets with each subnet having a lamp at each corner or node and at least one lamp therebetween attached to the wires, thus resulting in eight light lamps per subnet. Each of the electrically conductive wires is in electrical communication with a series of lamps and each of said non-conductive wires is disposed adjacent each lamp without establishing electrical contact therewith. A retaining means such as a clip or a ring is used to secure the wires alongside the lamps. More than one lamp may be used intermediate the nodes thus resulting in a total of eight or twelve lamps per subnet.
The lighting network may employ a single wire to form the subnets hence resulting in even less degree of wire consumption, and thus less cost per unit of wires used for a Christmas tree or other structure.